South Africa has 240 infections, with Gauteng at 125 followed by the Western Cape at 74. The Gauteng government plans to distribute one-million bars of soap to residents of the province over the next week in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

On Saturday, Premier David Makhura distributed bars of soap to residents of Diepsloot. He says Gauteng residents are vulnerable because the province has the country’s largest population.

“Twenty-five percent of South Africa’s population is here. We have densely populated settlements but we are a port entry for aviation, for air travel and so there are many, many factors, if we take everybody to take responsibility, to take measures, help to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, we will succeed as a nation,” says Makhura.

In this video, confirmed coronavirus case in SA rise to 240

Volunteer Hamza Bava says everyone should do their part, “We want to promote personal hygiene because in the unlikely event of the coronavirus reaching people like these in such conditions, we can have a major disaster and I think the communities don’t even have money for food. Forget soap but I think giving out soap will go a very long way.”

Meanwhile, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in South Africa has risen to 240, according to the Department of Health. The Eastern Cape has recorded its first case of the virus – a 28-year-old female who had travelled to Germany.

A total of 38 new cases have been recorded since Friday’s update of 202 coronavirus cases. On Friday, Minister of Health Mkhize said its important for South Africans to mobilise against the virus.

Mkhize has reiterated that there is currently no vaccine for the COVID-19 that has the world on tenterhooks.

The remark came after the United States gave the go-ahead to test a malaria drug called Chloroquine as a treatment for the virus.

Mkhize says some local medical professionals are part of the team that is working on developing the vaccine

Everybody is at risk

Mkhize says everybody is at risk of contracting the coronavirus.

“In any community, 60 t0 70% of the community will be affected by the virus. We can’t hide that. So I say to the religious leaders, most of us we are going to have this virus. South Africa most of us will have this virus. It doesn’t mean that then it’s going to be a sever disease to all of us. It will be severe to the 20%. Let’s make sure that at each and every time the 20% is small so that we don’t have the strain of having to worry about opening new ventilators and all of those things.”

He says during such times it is important to work together.

“The reality for us is that we need to be working together to deal with this issue and as you will be aware as well the president has gone all out to call for a lot of stringent measures declaring a state of national disaster and also got a lot of stakeholders, leaders to come together and unite in an effort to fight this virus.”

This entry was posted on 22 Mar 2020,07:26AM at 7:26 AM and is filed under South Africa.
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